Testing the BoP impact assessment framework through assessing socio-economic impact of a health care venture in Afghanistan

Abstract

This thesis explores impact assessment of a health care venture targeting the base of the pyramid market in Afghanistan. Little research has been conducted on BoP ventures in Afghanistan, and impact assessment represents a gap in the BoP literature. Therefore, to address the assessment gap in the BoP literature, the BoP Impact Assessment Framework was used as a theoretical template for designing the research study as well as generalising results. The study design included empirical, field research in rural Afghanistan, which provided a unique context for testing the existing framework. The case study method was used to conduct research on a single organisation providing health services in Afghanistan, and data was collected from multiple sources of evidence such as archival evidence, interviews and focus groups to triangulate results. The research study incorporated grounded theory procedures and processes to collect, analyse and code raw data. Theoretical sampling, a central grounded theory procedure, facilitated theory development through the discovery and comparison of concepts and categories. Results were developed by theorising about the raw data compiled during data collection and analysed using grounded theory. The final empirical results included three broad categories – “lower health care costs”, “relationships” and “behaviours” – and represent the inductive theory that emerged from the research study. The inductive theory was subsequently generalised against the existing theoretical framework through analytical generalisation. In each case where the inductive theory was compared against the existing theoretical framework, the research study found that the empirical results were generalisable against the existing theory.